.  W'^ 


Quy€i'-i 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  May  27,  1864.— Read  first 
and  second  times,  referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  ordered 
to  be  printed. 

[By  Mr.  J.  T.  Leach,  of  North  Carolina.] 


.RESOLUTIONS 

■  Declaring  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  law. 

1  Whereas,  The  preamble  to  the  Constitution  of  the   Confede- 

'i  rate  States  declare   the   purpose   for  which  the  States,  acting  in 

.i  their  sovereign   and   independent  character,  entered  the  federal 

4  compact,  and   that  any  violation  of  the  terms  is  an  outrage  upon 

.5  the  rights  of   the  States,  subversive  of  justice,  and  a  flagrant 

6  usurpation  of  power  by  Congress  ;  and  whereas,  the  delegation 

7  of    power    to    the    President    by    the    Congress,    under    the 

8  suspension    of    the    writ    of    habeas    corpus,    finds  no  sanction 

9  in    the    Constitution,    is    unjust,    oppressive    and     subversive 
10  of    the    letter     and     spirit     of  the    Constitution;     therefore, 

1  Resolved,  That  the  Congress  had  no  right  under  the  ^uspen-       • 

2  sion  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corptis,  to  authorize  the  President  to 

3  arrest,  imprison  and  condemn   the  citizens   of  the  Confederate 

4  States,  without  due  process  of  law,  as   laid  down  in   article    I, 

5  section  16  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States. 


2 

1  Resolved,  That  treason,  as  laid  down  iu  article  3,  section  3,  of 

2  tlie  Confederate  Constitution,  is  clearly  defined,  and  the  punishment 

3  annexed  i:>  applicable  only  to  the  crime  of  levying  war  against 
4«  the  Confederate  States,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving 
5  them  aid  and  comfort  ;  .and  that  Congress,  an(\  not  the  President, 
fi  ha?  the  righ.t  t--*  neohire  the  punishment  of  trea.-^cn. 


